Tijuana, Mexico, July 16, 2009 – China prevailed in a five-setter against Czech Republic in the second match of Pool B in the FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship. The score was 21-25, 25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 15-12.

Czech Republic took the close first set 25-21 with a late offense led by Tereza Vanzurova who had six kills in the frame. The Czechs led 8-7 at the first technical time-out but the score reverted at the second pause when China was in front 16-15. The Czech Republic outscored China 4-1 in the service aces category and 4-2 in the blocking department.

China improved its reception in the second set and led 8-7 and 16-14 at the technical stops with Liu Xiaotong leading the offensive part. The Chinese widened the margin to 20-17 thanks to spikes of Yuan Caixia and Liu, but lost the focus and made two consecutive mistakes shortening the distance to 20-19. Liu struck back for some breath and two soft touches by Sun Mingjian gave China a 25-22 win.

The third set was lopsided in favor of China. The Asians led 8-6 and 16-8 at the technical time-outs. The Czechs gave away many points with their defensive mistakes while Chinese Zhang Yichan had her cannon-arm red-hot. The frame ended with China scoring a 25-14 victory.

The Czech took an 8-6 lead in the third set on the shoulders of Vanzoureva and Svobodnikova but China tied up at 10-all thanks to a pair of attacks from Yuan Caixia. The Czech led 16-14 at the second technical time-out with Vanzoureva and Kvapilova providing the margin. The rest of the way the Europeans dominated with Vanzoureva striking thunderous kills and Melicharkova nailing the final shot for a 25-22 win.

China jumped out of the boxes with a 4-1 lead in the tie-breaker thanks to a pair of spikes and one service ace by Yuan. The Chinese improved to 8-5 with two spikes of Zhang and another bomb from Yuan. The gap widened to 11-7 via one kill by Liu and China led the rest of the way to the final victory 15-12.